Iron ore slumps

MANILA: Dalian and Singapore iron ore futures fell more than 2% on Friday, reversing gains in the previous session, as traders weighed demand prospects in top steel producer China that has been plagued with a debt crisis in its real estate industry.

The most-traded iron ore, for delivery in January next year, on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange dropped as much as 2.5% to 716 yuan ($106.16) a tonne. The contract, however, was still on track for a weekly gain of more than 1% driven by a rebound in margins at mills. On the Singapore Exchange, the front-month September contract fell 2.3% to $109.75 a tonne, as of 0334 GMT, but was up 0.6% this week. “The iron ore market remains on shaky ground,” ANZ commodity strategists said in a note.

“Demand in China still faces headwinds from a real estate downturn and constraints on steel industry emissions.”